All of which brings us to the "crazy" idea of backing fiat currencies with cryptocurrencies, an idea I first floated back in 2013, long before the current crypto-craze emerged. Exhibit One: here's your typical central bank, creating trillions of units of currency every year, backed by nothing but trust in the authority of the government, created at the whim of a handful of people in a room and distributed to their cronies, or at the behest of their cronies. And this is a "trustworthy" currency?

Exhibit Two: central banks can't become insolvent, we're told, because they can create as much currency as they want, whenever they want. And this is a "trustworthy" currency?

Hal's insight:

Click through for the full article. If they do dump gold, I'll take it.

Good ideas don't require force. That describes the Internet, mobile telephony and cryptocurrencies.

What is money? We all assume we know, because money is a commonplace feature of everyday life. Money is what we earn and exchange for goods and services. Everyone thinks the money they’re familiar with is the only possible system of money—until they run across an entirely different system of money. Then they realize money is a social construct, a confluence of social consensus and political force-- what we agree to use as money, and what our government mandates we use as money under threat of punishment. We assume that our monetary system is much like a Law of Nature: since it’s ubiquitous, it must be the only possible system.

Hal's insight:

Click through for the rest and check out his latest book, Money & Work Unchained.

Michigan State University economics professor Mark Skidmore made an astounding discovery about the finances and budgets of the U.S. federal government earlier this year. He and a team of graduate students discovered $21 trillion missing in the federal budget going back to 1998. Dr. Skidmore, who specializes in public finance, explains, “We know from official government sources that indicate $21 trillion is, in some way, unaccounted for. Furthermore, if we come back to the Constitution, all spending needs to be authorized by Congress. It looks to me, and I think I can conclude with a high degree of certainty, there is money flowing in, as well as out, that is unaccounted for. . . . That’s the one thing we know from these documents, that there is $21 trillion in unaccounted funds.”

An oceanic-scale demand push from "all parts Far East" is building, as the desire to own gold and silver promises to place an increasingly solid foundation for years to come. China, India, and Southeast Asia have historically accumulated precious metal as a savings vehicle, a hedge against political uncertainty (e.g. India's surprise call-in last year of 80% of the country's paper currency), and as an expression of affection. China's newly-emerging affluent middle class alone is set to become larger than the population of the U.S. Frank Holmes collectively refers to these elements as "love and fear trades". China's One Belt-One Road (OBOR) Initiative – the world's largest-ever construction project – is designed to link 60% of the world's population in a cooperative financial and economic matrix. Taken together, the continued migration of gold supply from West to East is baked into the cake.

..For the first time since 2010, default rates on consumer loans are rising. This credit weakness is accompanying a general decline in transportation stocks.

These two leading indicators suggest weaker economic activity is likely next year. If this weakness continues, it could weaken gross domestic product (GDP) and earnings. Given the high premium on stocks right now, any decline in earnings could trigger a bear market (a decline of 20% or more in average stock prices).

The basis of this admittedly crazy forecast was simple: capital flows.

I think we can all agree that bitcoin (BTC) is "interesting." One of the primary reason that bitcoin (and cryptocurrency in general) is interesting is that nobody knows what will happen going forward. Unknowns and big swings up and down are characteristics of open markets.It's impossible to forecast bitcoin's future price because virtually all the future inputs are unknown. We've lived so long with managed markets that only loft higher that we've forgotten that unmanaged markets are volatile and full of unknowns. We've forgotten that markets are reflections of all sorts of things, from human emotions to herd behavior to changes in the underlying Mode of Production, i.e. how stuff gets done, made, distributed and paid for.

Hal's insight:

Bit coin continues to remind me of tulips. Click through for the full post.

One of the major topics discussed in the precious metals community is the manipulation of the gold and silver prices by the large bullion banks. Many precious metals analysts point to the massive commercial short positions held by JP Morgan and Scotiabank as the root cause for the low silver price. While I agree that the bullion banks’ massive short contracts are controlling the silver price to a certain degree, there’s another factor that is overlooked by the majority of precious metals analysts.

The stock market rejoices the House passage of the tax “reform” Bill as the Dow shot up 187 points and the S&P 500 spiked up 21. The Nasdaq soared 1.3%, retracing its 3-day decline in one day. The tax bill is nothing more than a massive redirect of money flow from the Treasury Department to Corporate America and billionaires. The middle class will not receive any tax relief from the Bill but it will shoulder the burden of the several trillion dollars extra in Treasury debt that will be required to finance the tax cuts for the wealthy. The tax “reform” will have, at best, no effect on GDP. It will likely be detrimental to real economic output.

In this scenario, time is running out for Saudi Arabia's free-spending royalty and state-- and for all the other free-spending oil exporters.

While there are numerous dynamics at work in the turmoil roiling Saudi Arabia and by extension, the Mideast, one way to cut to the chase is to follow the oil, follow the money. Correspondent B.D. recently posited a factor that has been largely overlooked in the geopolitical / fate-of-the-petrodollar discussions: Perhaps the core dynamic is a technical one of diminished oil production. Here is Bart's commentary: "I think the Saudis may be quickly running out of profitable oil to produce/export. I think they tried to over-produce for a while to damage the competition... and they now have production issues resulting from that. (As has happened in the past)

Hal's insight:

Click through for the rest. I have been looking at these events with great interest.

JP Morgan, at least according to the daily Comex warehouse report, added over half a million ozs of silver to its “historic” stash of silver at the Comex: TF Metals Report. It would be even more interesting to see an actual independent accounting of that specific metal which would track the serial numbers on the bars to the legal owner of title.

I’ve been hedged in my mining stock portfolio since early September. The signal for me to hedge is the reliable Comex bank “net short” position as reported in the weekly Commitment of Traders report. Since late summer, the bank net short position, and the corresponding hedge fund “managed money” net long position, has been at an extreme level.

Historically this is the signal that the Comex banks will implement what I call a “COT open interest liquidation” take-down of the gold/silver price using Comex paper to trigger hedge fund stop-loss positions. This enables the Comex banks to cover their shorts and print huge profits. It’s also illegal trading activity but that’s for another day.

Porter and Buck welcome investing legend and best-selling author Jim Rogers for an exclusive extended interview. Jim calls in from Singapore to tell you about the first time he met Porter 20 years ago, his latest thoughts on gold, and what he sees as the “first shoe to drop” in a debt jubilee scenario. Porter asks Jim about bitcoin (around the 26-minute mark), cryptocurrencies, and the advanced adoption of digital payments in Asia. Jim reveals that he regrets not buying any bitcoin, and you’ll be surprised at what he thinks governments could do with cryptos. Porter asks Jim if he had to invest all his money in one type of asset, what would it be?

What if bitcoin is a reflection of trust in the future value of fiat currencies? I am struck by the mainstream confidence that bitcoin is a fraud/fad that will soon collapse, while central bank fiat currencies are presumed to be rock-solid and without risk. Those with supreme confidence in fiat currencies might want to look at a chart of Venezuela's fiat currency, which has declined from 10 to the US dollar in 2012 to 5,000 to the USD earlier this year to a current value in December 2017 of between 90,000 and 100,000 to $1:

Exchange Rate in Venezuela: On 1 December, the bolivar traded in the parallel market at 103,024 VED per USD, a stunning 59.9% depreciation from the same day last month. Analysts participating in the LatinFocus Consensus Forecast expect the parallel dollar to remain under severe pressure next year. They project a non-official exchange rate of 2,069,486 VEF per USD by the end of 2018. In 2019, the panel sees the non-official exchange rate trading at 2,725,000 VEF per USD.

As students of the gold market know, the paper gold markets in New York and London function as price manipulation mechanisms used by the western Central Banks in their effort to control the price of gold. As the physical demand from the eastern hemisphere pushes the price higher, the operators of the LBMA and Comex print large quantities of paper gold (gold futures, forwards) in order to satisfy the demand of hedge funds, which use futures to chase price momentum (up and down) in gold and silver.

The central banks claim omnipotent financial powers, and their comeuppance is overdue.

I will be the first to admit that invoking the woo-woo of the Tao as the reason to expect a reversal of the stock market in 2018 smacks of Bearish desperation. With everything coming up roses in much of the global economy, there is precious little foundation for calling a tumultuous end to the global Bull Market other than variations of nothing lasts forever. Invoking the Tao specifically calls for extremes to return or reverse to the opposite polarity: this is expressed in the line from Lao Tzu, The way of the Tao is reversal or Reversal is the movement of Tao.

A report by BMI Research states that global gold mine output growth will pick up in the next few years, supported by higher gold prices and solid projects in key countries.

“We forecast global gold production to increase from 105moz in 2018 to 125moz by 2026, averaging 2.3% annual growth. While a steady pace of growth, this represents a slight deceleration in growth rate compared with the previous eight-year average of 3.1%,” the firm says.

For short-term prices, BMI predicts that they will continue to head higher, averaging $1,300/oz in 2018.

Hal's insight:

Click through for the rest of the article. The key being that prices will go higher making it more desirable to mine. I also, think that in the coming years gold will continue to play a major part in technological growth and medical procedures.

Porter’s back from Nicaragua and he’s growing more and more concerned about corporate and consumer debt. In our current “Escher Economy” it’s hard to distinguish which way is up and which way is down. The underlying balance sheet of the U.S. consumer is in big trouble and Porter tells listeners that the likely outcome could lead to big changes at America’s ballot box in 2020.

Porter and Buck welcome special guest Grant Williams, co-founder of Real Vision TV. Known as “Netflix for finance geeks,” Real Vision is the world’s only video-on-demand channel with a finance and investor focus. Porter and Grant talk about how we’ve come to accept the madness of global economic activity over the last decade, how there seems to be a bubble forming in just about every asset class, and the two big signals to watch for that will show you when economies fueled by debt are about to run out of gas.

MOSCOW -- BRICS countries are discussing the possibility of establishing a single gold trade system, First Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Central Bank Sergey Shvetsov said Friday.

"The traditional (trade) system based in London and partially in Swiss cities is becoming less relevant, as new trade hubs are emerging, first of all in India, China and South Africa." Shvetsov said. "We are discussing the possibility to establish a single (system of) gold trade both within BRICS and at the level of bilateral contacts."

He added that this system may serve as a basis for further creation of new benchmarks.

According to Shvetsov, the Bank of Russia has already signed a memorandum on development of bilateral gold trade with Chinese colleagues. The regulator plans to take first steps toward formation of a single trade system with the People’s Republic of China in 2018, he added.

"We assume that trade and clearing links should be established. The point is that gold buyers should decide on the place of purchase," the official said, adding that trade links would enable market participants to make deals on international exchanges via the central counterparty.

HSBC has been ordered by the UK high court to disclose documents relating to alleged manipulation of foreign exchange markets by its traders in London and New York over a decade ago.

UK-based currency investor ECU Group won the court order as it seeks to establish whether HSBC manipulated the market to profit ahead of executing three trades for ECU worth more than $100m (£75m) a piece in 2006.

HSBC now has to disclose all correspondence and records related to the alleged suspect trades, which could pave the way for a full lawsuit.

Inflation is the debasement of money by government. The expansion of the supply of money and its subsequent loss in value results in an increase in the general level of prices for goods and services. Deflation is characterized by a contraction in the supply of money and a decrease in the general price level of goods and services. (What we are currently experiencing is called ‘disinflation’ which is a lower rate of inflation.) The purpose of this essay is to clarify and explain accurately what to expect regarding gold prices if deflation occurs. According to Wikipedia: “Inflation reduces the real value of money over time, but deflation increases it. This allows one to buy more goods and services than before with the same amount of money.”

“Inflation” occurs when the creation of currency outruns the creation of real wealth it can bid for… It isn’t caused by price increases; rather, it causes price increases.

Inflation is not caused by the butcher, the baker, or the auto maker, although they usually get blamed. On the contrary, by producing real wealth, they fight the effects of inflation. Inflation is the work of government alone, since government alone controls the creation of currency.

In a true free-market society, the only way a person or organization can legitimately obtain wealth is through production. “Making money” is no different from “creating wealth,” and money is nothing but a certificate of production. In our world, however, the government can create currency at trivial cost, and spend it at full value in the marketplace. If taxation is the expropriation of wealth by force, then inflation is its expropriation by fraud.

The likelihood that either party will ever drain the fetid swamp of corruption that is our tax code is zero, because it's far too profitable for politicos to operate their auction for tax favors.

To understand the U.S. tax code and the endless charade of tax reform, we have to start with four distasteful realities: 1. Ours is not a representational democracy, it's a political auction in which wealth casts the votes that count. Those seeking political influence over issues such as taxation place their bids in the political auction via campaign contributions and lobbying. The winner of the political auction gets favorable treatment, and everyone else ends up subsidizing the gains of the winner.

Gold’s our best preparation for a new global monetary system, says James Rickards by Greg Klein

James Rickards An economic crisis looms, ready to strike within a few years and maybe imminently. Exponentially worse than 2008, it will be a disaster “so large the system does not bounce back. The system ceases to exist.” That’s the bleak vision of James Rickards, lawyer, economist, portfolio manager, newsletter writer, author of four books and a keynote speaker at the Silver and Gold Summit to be hosted in San Francisco on November 20 and 21. He offers some advice on how to prepare for the impending peril.

Stewart Dougherty returns with unique insight into the powerful Deep State forces behind the relentless manipulation of gold and silver. He also presents a searing look at Jim Rickards’ deceptive role as the Deep State’s grifter.

“There are crooks everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate.” Final blog entry by Daphne Caruana Galizia, 53, renowned Maltese investigative reporter who specialized in exposing state corruption; posted on 16 October 2017, one day before she and her vehicle were blown to bits by a car bomb in Bidnija, Malta

In 2011, gold pulled a “Bitcoin” before anyone even knew what Bitcoin was: its price went vertical to $1,900 per ounce. Inflation-adjusted, the price was still far below its 1980 all-time high, and from all indications, it was going to keep heading north toward its free market print.

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